Hi again Aiden, here are the objects that I've observed from my light polluted suburban backyard- all without a problem- using a 10" newtonian. Your 8" shouldn't have a problem. In fact, even a 6" should deliver if not all, most of these objects below (I had a 6" before getting the 10"), the only difference being the brightness & detail which I noticed jumping from the 6 to the 10.
I've put this list together specifically so these objects can be attained from 6" scopes and up. Some objects on the medium list may require darker skies and perhaps slightly larger aperture, while the difficult list is really targeted for large apertures.
A 6" on some of these objects may benefit from a dark sky as well, in particular, galaxies (M104 & Centaurus A- I couldn't achieve either from my backyard with my 6").
This pic
here I found to be a very good representation of what The Sombrero Galaxy looks through a scope.
With my 10", I cannot get NGC4945 galaxy in Centaurus ("Medium" list) from my backyard. But it depends on each person's sky pollution.
NGC 6302 Scorpius- (The Bug Nebula) PN.
NGC 6572 Ophiuchus- (The Blue Racquet Ball) PN.
M22 Sagittarius- globular cluster.
NGC 5986 Lupus- globular cluster.
NGC 5460 Lupus- open cluster.
NGC 5102 Centaurus- galaxy.
NGC 5286 Centaurus- globular cluster.
NGC 6441 Scorpius- globular cluster.
M57 Lyra- (The Ring Nebula) PN.
The famous Double Double- Lyra.
Collinder 399 Vulpecula- open cluster.
Barnard 50 Scorpius- Dark Nebula.
NGC 3132 Vela- (The Eight Burst Nebula) PN.
NGC 6723 Corona Australis- globular cluster along with (half a degree away) NGC 6727 Corona Australis- diffuse nebula.
NGC 5128 Centaurus- (Centaurus A) galaxy.
NGC 6826 Cygnus- (The Blinking Nebula) PN.
As you can see- all of the objects on the easy list I have observed from home, the only exception is M27 and that's because I haven't seen it yet.
I can do up to mag 10 in my backyard. But it depends on the surface brightness of the objects. Large face on spiral galaxies I have trouble with as the light is spread out over the surface area making it dimmer than say an edge on or an elliptical. All I can make out with M83 (Southern Pinwheel) is the core and barely there nebulosity for its arms). The Needle Galaxy (edge on) is invisible as my view to it faces north thru the city light pollution & it's also quite a low object, so light pollution will wash it out even more. Yet M104 (edge on galaxy) is beautiful. Cetus A (M77- small face on spiral) looks beautiful. So it's basically, have a go and see, but be realistic by keeping the mag limit around 10 and under when observing thru light pollution, I would say.
If you're having trouble picking up faint fuzzies, remember that the more you observe and train your eyes in observing, the better you will get at picking up faint smudges. Then the more you observe those faint smudges, the more detail (sky condition dependent of course), in time you'll be able to pick up. If you find an object to be "unimpressive"- re-visit it- the sky conditions (transparency/seeing) can play havock on ruining objects so it's worthwhile to keep going back to them and sometimes they'll look absolutely spectacular! I notice this a lot with The Sombrero Galaxy (M104) and Centaurus A (NGC 5128) from home. With the latter object, the last few sessions it's barely been there in my eyepiece,
and yet on some nights I can see that dark dust lane jump out at me & the galaxy nice and bright.
Have a go at NGC5102 in Centaurus- it's very easy to find (and bright) as it sits only one deg away from the bright star Iota Centauri. Find it in low power (25mm ep), then observe it with a 10mm ep. If you have a widefield 10mm, both the star and galaxy will be within the same field of view (fov). Your looking for a bright core- more diffuse looking than a star- with faint nebulosity surrounding it- a rectangle shape if you look closely. Use averted vision to see the extended nebulosity thus you'll see the galaxy larger in size.
For an awesome, bright, blue coloured PN, go for the Blue Racquetball in Ophiuchus- it's hard to miss and very striking!
A very easy to find PN with an impressive smoke ring shape is The Ring Nebula (M57). It lays smack bang in the middle of the two bright naked eye stars in the constellation of Lyra. While in Lyra, you have to check out the famous double double! This constellation doesn't rise very high in our sky so use a computer software sky programme to find out the time it's highest in the sky. The higher the object, the better the views will be as you're not contending with light pollution and the soup of the atmosphere low down.
Have a read of this thread for some tips:
How to hone observing sensitivity & accuracy.
And read this link
How to master the art of averted vision.
As for finding appropriate targets for my size scope and my viewing location (light polluted backyard), I find the Collins Stars & Planets book very helpful. It's my favorite book & workhorse. I did a review of it (& pics) on post no #14 (it's a 3 part post, spaced across #13-#15)
here.
I also did a thread a while back seeking help on finding planetary nebula which you may find helpful- it was for me! Look
here.
And another very useful planetary nebula help thread
here .
Let us know how you go finding and observing some of these objects on the list.
